It’s often impossible to predict how a young and relatively inexperienced team will perform under the bright lights. Will they be intimidated by even the notion of postseason play? Will they fold their tents and quietly exit stage right to dream of greater glory in years to come? Or will they step up to their capabilities?

The third-seeded uOttawa women’s Gee-Gees exceeded the challenge, handling what stage fright they may have had, while dusting the sixth-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues 73-50 in the opening round of the Ontario University Athletics east division playoffs on Wednesday at Montpetit Hall.

The GeeGees completely dominated the Blues in the paint. Getting post touches was “one of the plans,” said Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu, who notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards. “We’re taller than them, so we should dominate. ”

Post Angela Ribarich, who scored 12 and blocked three shots, said the Gee-Gees may have played their best defensive half the season while taking control quickly. “It was a lot of teamwork. It was trusting each other…Everyone does their part and everyone buys into it and everyone gets the job done. ”

Heading into the match, the Blues had the definite advantage in terms of playing experience, starting three fifth-year seniors and a pair of third-year players. The Gee-Gees, by contrast, typically started a pair of third-year players, one or two sophomores, and/or one or two freshman.

Just six Gee-Gees were members of the 2016 unit that made the national tournament but one of those (Sarah Besselink) was lost for this season because of a knee injury while the other five were essentially bit players on that squad. Last year, the rebuilding Gee-Gees crumbled under the playoff pressure, suffering an opening-round loss to a lower seed. As for the Blues, they hadn’t won a playoff game since 2015 but they were a respectable 10-8 in the previous 10 years of OUA postseason play, while the GeeGees were 16-9 (including one Wilson Cup title and three runner-up finishes). The last time they met in the playoffs, in 2009, the Gee-Gees stunned the higher-seeded Blues 68-55 in the OUA East final.

Yet, whatever historical edge the Gee-Gees may have had been mitigated by their inexperience and the fact that the teams split their regular season games this season, with the Gee-Gees winning 61-44 at home and the Blues prevailing 62-53 in Toronto.

Despite that inexperience, the Gee-Gees appeared less jittery than the Blues from the start. Ribarich posted-up for a pair of buckets and blocked a shot, Brooklyn McAlear drilled a trey, Jennifer Crowe notched a putback, while Anne Carr and Amelie Hachey converted inside feeds, and Crowe a runout, as the Gee-Gees broke to a 15-3 lead. With their defence hounding the Blues into miscues, and holding Toronto without a field goal for the remaining nine minutes of the quarter, while Lefebvre-Okwanku notching an and-one in the final seconds, uOttawa extended its lead to 20-6 heading into the second frame.

The Gee-Gees continued to deny the Blues the blocks in the second quarter, forcing them strictly into a perimeter game. Although Rashida Atkinson and Keyira Parks drilled treys, uOttawa continued to dominate the boards and soon had the lead at 22 on a Hachey trey and a McAlear pull-up. Parks hit another trey, though, as the Blues responded with a 7-2 run but Hachey twice found Lefebvre-Okwanku with inside feeds and Ribarich posted-up for another bucket as the Gee-Gees took their largest lead, at 45-22, into the lockers after playing easily their best half of the campaign.

With McAlear continuing to masterfully dictate the tempo in the second half, while finding the passing lanes to Lefebvre-Okwanku and Ribarich in the paint, and Crowe doing yeoman work on the boards, the Gee-Gees led by as many as 31 and romped.

Gee-Gees coach Andy Sparks said that “from a defensive perspective, some of the stuff we worked on this week transferred a little bit. Certainly, with Angela and Brigitte, they were pretty dominant in there, for sure. … Overall, I would say that was one of our better games, as far as a complete game.”

Blues coach Michelle Belanger said “they killed us everywhere, everywhere, on the blocks, on the shots, in the paint. My team didn’t show up today, which was sad.” Belanger also lamented the Blues performance on the boards. It’s been our nemesis all year.”

Crowe added 11 for the Gee-Gees, who hit 30-72 (.417) from the floor, 4-12 (.333) from the arc and 9-12 (.750) from the line, while outrebounding Toronto 53-41. Atkinson led Toronto with 12. The Blues hit 15-63 (.238) from the floor, 5-29 (.172) from the arc and 15-20 from the line.

The Gee-Gees will foray to Kingston on Saturday to face the 2nd-seeded Queens Gaels in the OUA quarter-finals. Meanwhile, in the other east quarter-final, the top-seeded Carleton Ravens will face 4th-seeded Ryerson. The Rams defeated the 5th-seeded York Lions 66-61 in the other opening-round game.

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